The One that Lives Under the Pavement
Hi I’m Jesse Hurlburt and I’m Charleigh Hurlburt and Welcome to Arthropod Adventures. This is Season 4 Episode 7 The one that lives under the pavement
Jude Harmonica
Today’s arthropod can be found in large numbers. They are famously found under sidewalks and patios.
Pecan Pie music
Today’s episode brings us to the world of the Pavement Ant. And yes as the name suggests it is often found under pavement or patios across the eastern and southern united states.
Their scientific name is Tetramorium caespitum. The Genus Tetramorium from what I could find has some Greek origins from 2 words Tetra meaning 4 and morium meaning part. I could not find a definitive meaning or thought behind the genus but one suggestion I saw had to do with the parts of their mandibles. The species name caespitum has latin origins, meaning ground. Which as an ant makes some sense since they live in the ground.
And like many of the arthropods we have discussed on the podcast before, these insects are not native, they come from Europe and were brought over here a few hundred years ago.
If you are not familiar with the invertebrate pet life, let me tell you, if there’s an invert you want, someone out there has it or something very similar and pet ants are no different. And I’m not talking about your run of the mill ant farm, which you should not own because they are terrible for ants. But that's a conversation for another day. I will just tell you that if you want an ant farm than I encourage you to find a reputable dealer who cares about their well being and get the right set up for them. I bring this up only to mention that our featured ant today, is one that you can have as a pet yourself! Some of the information today came from the pet trade!
These are small adorable ants. The works are a dark brown or black in color and are only 2-4 mm long. That right, 2-4 mm. If you were to examine their heads closely you would see parallel lines called rugae or ridges that run lengthwise up and down. If we continue to look at their head features, you will find a raised ridge area around where their antenna connects to their body. These antennas are 12 segmented with an additional 3 segmented club at the end.
They also have a narrow waist, it is the area that connects the thorax to the abdomen. In this ant species this waist is two part, the petiole and the post petiole. These ants also posses a stinger, which I think is pretty cool. And according to a University of Florida article written by Tyler Vitone and Andrea Lucky and I quote “T hese ants have a stinger that is modified and broadened distally into a triangular ‘flag’, likely making this appendage less effective as a defensive stinger but providing more surface area for the application of trailing pheromone”
In their homes, there is usually just the one queen and her workers for most of the time. I did see some research that suggested that a colony could have a second queen. The queen is much larger than her works, between 5-8 or so mm.
When the timing is right, typically late summer, although times do vary, the queen will produce future queens and male ants, who are winged. These now flying ants will swarm and find one another. Once mating has finished, they will lose their wings.
The mated female will have enough genetic material from the male to make her young for the entirety of her life. She will not need to mate again.
These colonies are huge from what I read. Their numbers reach into the thousands, possibly over 10,000 and according to the University of Florida article I quoted before, we get a good idea about how big their homes are and I quote “The majority of nests occupy 1.2-4.8 m2 in area and are 0.45-0.90 m deep” End quote.
These ants are pretty good eaters, they will forage for just about anything they can find from fellow arthropods to seeds. I saw an estimate at how far they will go out for food to be around 40 square meters, thats a huge distance for such a small ant.
Apparently these ants are not shy about fighting and defending their territory. During the late spring and early summer, they can be found fighting rival colonies. Which makes me think back to multiple summers in a row when I was at summer camp and noticed large groups of ants going at it. I’m wondering at this time if I was seeing two pavement ant colonies attacking one another.
For such a small ant, they are truly a fun species and I can see why people would want to keep them as a pet. And their lifespan is much longer than I would have thought, with workers living for up to 5 years and the queen maybe up to 15., which is wild to think about!
And we will leave you with one last interesting fact. These ants may be aggressive and protective of their colony but that protectiveness also extends to the occasional caterpillar. The caterpillar provides nectar to drink, and the ants keep them safe.
So the next time you think you’re walking down the sidewalk, keep an eye out for some small ants. And depending on the time of year, be on the look out for those flying or fighting ants!
Jude Harmonica
We hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you have an arthropod you would love to hear about, want to tell us what you think about the show or found a mistake send us an email at arthropodadventurespodcast@gmail.com [arthropodadventurespodcast@gmail.com] Thank you for listening, stay inquisitive and never stop learning.
https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Tetramorium_caespitum/ [https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Tetramorium_caespitum/]
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/file:///C:/Users/Jhurlburt/Downloads/IN104700%20(1).pdf
https://bwars.com/ant/formicidae/myrmicinae/tetramorium-caespitum [https://bwars.com/ant/formicidae/myrmicinae/tetramorium-caespitum]
https://extension.psu.edu/pavement-ant [https://extension.psu.edu/pavement-ant]
https://www.ant-shack.com/blogs/ant-care-sheets-1/tetramorium-caespitum-pavement-ant-care-sheet?srsltid=AfmBOorA1A6fJKWHnudW2oBzRCGXdMaVq2GOHfg2FV_ISCB6CdooIriy [https://www.ant-shack.com/blogs/ant-care-sheets-1/tetramorium-caespitum-pavement-ant-care-sheet?srsltid=AfmBOorA1A6fJKWHnudW2oBzRCGXdMaVq2GOHfg2FV_ISCB6CdooIriy]
